Woman dies after back room cosmetic surgery

 Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47, from Medellin, Colombia / AP Source: AP

A US woman died after botched buttocks enhancement surgery in the back room of a tile business by two Colombian nationals who were later arrested trying to board a plane back to that country.

Elena Caro, 42, of Las Vegas was pronounced dead on Saturday (local time) at North Vista Hospital in North Las Vegas, the Clark County coroner's office said.

Her cause of death was not immediately determined, pending toxicology tests and an investigation.

Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas, 55, and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47, were arrested for investigation of murder late on Saturday at McCarran International Airport, police said.

Ms Caro's daughter, 17-year-old Janet Villalovos, told The Associated Press that she told Mr Matallana-Galvas to take care of her mother when she dropped her off for the procedure.

"He told me everything's going to be fine, don't worry," Ms Villalovos said.

She said her mother had facial botox injections a week earlier by the same people.

Police identified Mr Matallana-Galvas as a doctor.

However, the state had no information on file on him or Ms Torres-Sanchez, said Douglas C Cooper, executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.

Under questioning, Mr Matallana-Galvas told detectives he injected Ms Caro with a gel substance, and she walked away from his office, according to a police report.

Ms Elizabeth Flores, an aide to Mr Mattalana-Galvas, told police he called and told her something had gone wrong, and she had her husband drive him and Ms Torres-Sanchez to the airport, the police report said.

The two men were being held without bail at Clark County jail pending a court appearance tomorrow. It was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

Ms Caro also used the name Maria Orrozco, police said.

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Vegas woman dies after backroom cosmetic surgery

LAS VEGAS —

With her smooth skin and wavy, honeyed hair, Elena Caro was celebrated as a beauty by her husband and teenage daughter, who often told her that she didn't need cosmetic surgery.

But at 42, Caro wanted firmer skin and a younger figure, so she secretly booked an appointment with a medical office recommended by a close friend.

The quest for perfection might have ended her life, police said.

Caro was found walking the streets of Las Vegas in agony Saturday after buttocks enhancement surgery that authorities say was performed by two Colombian nationals in the back room of a tile business.

She was pronounced dead minutes later at North Vista Hospital in North Las Vegas. Her cause of death was not immediately determined, pending toxicology tests and an investigation.

Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas, 55, and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47, were arrested hours after the surgery for investigation of murder, police said.

The husband and wife were being held without bail at Clark County jail pending a court appearance on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

Las Vegas homicide chief Lt. Lew Roberts said backroom clinics can be found across Sin City. But he said there hadn't been any deaths involving unlicensed physicians in at least six years.

"The tragic thing about this case is that this isn't an isolated incident of somebody going to an unlicensed alleged medical facility," he said.

Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez had purchased airplane tickets to return to their native Columbia on April 22 but were trying to catch an earlier flight at McCarran International Airport when they were arrested, police said.

Neither suspect had a license to practice medicine in Nevada, officials said. Matallana-Galvas told police he was a homeopathic doctor in Colombia.

Under questioning, he also told detectives he injected Caro with a gel substance, and she was able to walk away from his office after the procedure, according to a police report.

However, Elizabeth Flores, an aide to Matallana-Galvas, told police he had called and said something had gone wrong, and Flores had her husband drive him and his wife to the airport, the police report said.

Caro's daughter, 17-year-old Janet Villalovos, told The Associated Press that her family had begged Caro not to undergo cosmetic surgery.

However, encouraged by a friend who said she had successfully received buttocks enhancement surgery from Matallana-Galvas, Caro booked an appointment for facial Botox injections with him earlier this month.

When no complications arose, Caro quickly scheduled the buttocks surgery. She told only her daughter because she was worried that her husband, brother and sister would be too critical of the procedure and try to talk her out of it.

That morning, Villalovos said, she drove her mother to the makeshift medical office and gave Matallana-Galvas a warning.

"I told them, take care of her, please," Villalovos recalled. "He told me everything is going to be fine. Don't worry."

Villalovos watched the doctor and his wife inject one shot into her mother's buttocks. The sight made her squeamish, so she told her mother she was leaving and would return in four hours when the procedure was done. An hour later, her mother called to say everything was going well.

Later, her mother didn't answer repeated calls, Villalovos said.

When Villalovos returned to the makeshift medical office, it was locked and appeared abandoned. She asked Gilbert Estrada, the owner of Tiles and More, to unlock the door. Inside, the bed, curtains and curtain rods that had filled the room that morning were gone.

Estrada said Matallana-Galvas rented the small office two weeks ago and had said he would relocate by the end of the month.

"They were looking for a bigger place to serve more people," Estrada said in Spanish.

Caro was already dead when her daughter began searching for her, according to an arrest report. Onlookers had called emergency officials, who picked her up in an ambulance and took her to the hospital.

Roberts said police do not know how Caro ended up in the remote area but suspect she was dropped off there.

Matallana-Galvas said he had told Caro he didn't have the proper equipment to perform the procedure but did it anyway, according to the arrest report.

Nevada had no information on file on him or his wife, said Douglas C. Cooper, executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.

Police are looking for other possible victims.

Wailing family members gathered Monday at Caro's house, where photos of her were displayed alongside a rosary and a row of candles adorned with Catholic saints.

Villalovos said she and her mother did not know Matallana-Galvas was not a licensed doctor, although his office walls did not bear any certificates, licenses or diplomas.

Villalovos said she trusted him because he treated her mother professionally and with authority.

"It was not her time to go yet," Villalovos said.

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Botched cosmetic surgery: woman dead after procedure in back room of tile business

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - More than half of Britain's brides-to-be and 39 percent of grooms are considering cosmetic surgery or an aesthetic treatment in preparation for their wedding, according to a new study.

Treatments and procedures under consideration ahead of the big day range from botox through to breast augmentation, cosmetic surgery advice website www.goodsurgeonguide.co.uk said.

"A wedding is the single most important day in plenty of men and women's lives and a large number want everything to be perfect, including their appearance," said goodsurgeonguide.co.uk co-founder Christiana Clogg.

The website, which says it is Britain's only review and recommendation

Woman in Las Vegas seeking cosmetic surgery dies, pair charged

 Ruben Dario Mattallana-Galvas, 55, has been charged with one count of murder.NEW: The victim's daughter says her mother was injected by one suspectNEW: A suspect says the woman left off after getting a buttocks injectionTwo Colombian nationals have been charged with murder in Las VegasThey were caught as they were about to board a plane for South America

(CNN) -- Las Vegas police caught two people as they were about to board a plane for Colombia, then charged them with the murder of a woman who went missing hours after being dropped off for a cosmetic surgery procedure.

The female victim was dropped off Saturday morning to undergo a cosmetic procedure, according to a statement from the Las Vegas Police Department.

The victim's daughter contacted police after she was unable to find her mother at the same location where she had dropped her off about eight hours earlier. A police report, obtained and posted online by CNN affiliate KLAS, quoted the daughter as saying the office did not even have the same furniture in the office as was there earlier in the day.

The report claims that, before she left originally, the daughter saw the victim, identified as 42-year-old Elena Caro, disrobe and be injected in the buttocks by a man later identified by the daughter as one of the suspects, Ruben Dario Mattallana-Galvas. The daughter told police she got a call about an hour later from her mother, and was told to return several hours later.

In that span, authorities learned that the woman had been picked up in an ambulance about three miles north from the original location and taken to a local hospital. There, she was pronounced dead, according to the police statement.

Las Vegas police detectives soon identified two suspects as Mattallana-Galvas, 55, and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47. Both are from Medellin, Colombia.

The pair were arrested Saturday night at McCarran International Airport, while preparing to board a flight for Colombia. The pair actually had tickets for April 22, but were hoping to leave the United States earlier, according to the police report.

Instead, they were taken to the Clark County Detention Center and each charged with one count of murder, police said.

Mattallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez are due to be formally arraigned in court Tuesday on the charges, according to Las Vegas police.

After being informed he was being arrested for murder and being read his Miranda rights, Mattallana-Galvas told detectives that Caro had come into his office that day for a buttocks enhancement procedure, the police report stated. He claimed that, afterward, Caro had walked away from his office.

Mattallana-Galvas admitted to authorities that he was not licensed to pr active medicine in Nevada, but claimed he was a homeopathic doctor in Colombia.

Also Saturday, Las Vegas detectives interviewed an assistant to Mattallana-Galvas, who claimed that Mattallana-Galvas told her to cancel his appointments for that afternoon because "something had gone wrong," the police report said. The assistant said that her husband eventually took Mattallana-Galvas to the airport.

The toxicology report examining the exact cause and timing of Caro's death is still pending, John Fudenberg, the assistant coroner for Clark County, said Monday evening.

CNN's Marlena Baldacci contributed to this report.

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Dead woman named in Vegas cosmetic surgery case

Vegas woman dies after backroom cosmetic surgery - Boston.com  Home Today's Globe News Your Town Business Sports Lifestyle A&E Things to do Travel Cars Jobs Real Estate Local National World Politics Business Education Health Science Green Obituaries Special reports Traffic Weather Lottery HOME/COLLECTIONS/SURGERYVegas woman dies after backroom cosmetic surgeryApril 11, 2011|Cristina Silva, Associated PressShareEmailPrintIn this undated booking photo provided by the… (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

A woman died after botched buttocks enhancement surgery in the back room of a tile business by two Colombian nationals who were later arrested trying to board a plane back to that country, authorities said Monday.

Elena Caro, 42, of Las Vegas was pronounced dead Saturday at North Vista Hospital in North Las Vegas, the Clark County coroner’s office said.

Her cause of death was not immediately determined, pending toxicology tests and an investigation.

Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas, 55, and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47, were arrested for investigation of murder late Saturday at McCarran International Airport, police said.

Caro’s daughter, 17-year-old Janet Villalovos, told The Associated Press that she told Matallana-Galvas to take care of her mother when she dropped her off for the procedure.

“He told me everything’s going to be fine, don’t worry,’’ Villalovos said.

She said her mother had facial botox injections a week earlier by the same people.

Police identified Matallana-Galvas as a doctor.

However, the state had no information on file on him or Torres-Sanchez, said Douglas C. Cooper, executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.

Under questioning, Matallana-Galvas told detectives he injected Caro with a gel substance, and she walked away from his office, according to a police report.

Elizabeth Flores, an aide to Mattalana-Galvas, told police he called and told her something had gone wrong, and she had her husband drive him and Torres-Sanchez to the airport, the police report said.

The two men were being held without bail at Clark County jail pending a court appearance on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

Caro also used the name Maria Orrozco, police said.

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Vegas woman dies after backroom cosmetic surgery

Vegas woman dies after backroom cosmetic surgery
CRISTINA SILVA,Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — With her smooth skin and wavy, honeyed hair, Elena Caro was celebrated as a beauty by her husband and teenage daughter, who often told her that she didn't need cosmetic surgery.

But at 42, Caro wanted firmer skin and a younger figure, so she secretly booked an appointment with a medical office recommended by a close friend.

The quest for perfection might have ended her life, police said.

Caro was found walking the streets of Las Vegas in agony Saturday after buttocks enhancement surgery that authorities say was performed by two Colombian nationals in the back room of a tile business.

She was pronounced dead minutes later at North Vista Hospital in North Las Vegas. Her cause of death was not immediately determined, pending toxicology tests and an investigation.

Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas, 55, and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, 47, were arrested hours after the surgery for investigation of murder, police said.

The husband and wife were being held without bail at Clark County jail pending a court appearance on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

Las Vegas homicide chief Lt. Lew Roberts said backroom clinics can be found across Sin City. But he said there hadn't been any deaths involving unlicensed physicians in at least six years.

"The tragic thing about this case is that this isn't an isolated incident of somebody going to an unlicensed alleged medical facility," he said.

Matallana-Galvas and Torres-Sanchez had purchased airplane tickets to return to their native Columbia on April 22 but were trying to catch an earlier flight at McCarran International Airport when they were arrested, police said.

Neither suspect had a license to practice medicine in Nevada, officials said. Matallana-Galvas told police he was a homeopathic doctor in Colombia.

Under questioning, he also told detectives he injected Caro with a gel substance, and she was able to walk away from his office after the procedure, according to a police report.

However, Elizabeth Flores, an aide to Matallana-Galvas, told police he had called and said something had gone wrong, and Flores had her husband drive him and his wife to the airport, the police report said.

Caro's daughter, 17-year-old Janet Villalovos, told The Associated Press that her family had begged Caro not to undergo cosmetic surgery.

However, encouraged by a friend who said she had successfully received buttocks enhancement surgery from Matallana-Galvas, Caro booked an appointment for facial Botox injections with him earlier this month.

When no complications arose, Caro quickly scheduled the buttocks surgery. She told only her daughter because she was worried that her husband, brother and sister would be too critical of the procedure and try to talk her out of it.

That morning, Villalovos said, she drove her mother to the makeshift medical office and gave Matallana-Galvas a warning.

"I told them, take care of her, please," Villalovos recalled. "He told me everything is going to be fine. Don't worry."

Villalovos watched the doctor and his wife inject one shot into her mother's buttocks. The sight made her squeamish, so she told her mother she was leaving and would return in four hours when the procedure was done. An hour later, her mother called to say everything was going well.

Later, her mother didn't answer repeated calls, Villalovos said.

When Villalovos returned to the makeshift medical office, it was locked and appeared abandoned. She asked Gilbert Estrada, the owner of Tiles and More, to unlock the door. Inside, the bed, curtains and curtain rods that had filled the room that morning were gone.

Estrada said Matallana-Galvas rented the small office two weeks ago and had said he would relocate by the end of the month.

"They were looking for a bigger place to serve more people," Estrada said in Spanish.

Caro was already dead when her daughter began searching for her, according to an arrest report. Onlookers had called emergency officials, who picked her up in an ambulance and took her to the hospital.

Roberts said police do not know how Caro ended up in the remote area but suspect she was dropped off there.

Matallana-Galvas said he had told Caro he didn't have the proper equipment to perform the procedure but did it anyway, according to the arrest report.

Nevada had no information on file on him or his wife, said Douglas C. Cooper, executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.

Police are looking for other possible victims.

Wailing family members gathered Monday at Caro's house, where photos of her were displayed alongside a rosary and a row of candles adorned with Catholic saints.

Villalovos said she and her mother did not know Matallana-Galvas was not a licensed doctor, although his office walls did not bear any certificates, licenses or diplomas.

Villalovos said she trusted him because he treated her mother professionally and with authority.

"It was not her time to go yet," Villalovos said.

View the original article here

Woman can’t close her eyes after plastic surgery

It’s been nearly six agonizing years since a failed cosmetic surgery left Marilyn Leisz unable to do something most of us take for granted. Even now, after 30 surgical attempts to correct the problem, the New Jersey woman can no longer fully close her eyes. Even the simplest things — showering, sleeping — have become a nightmare.

“To take a shower, I have to put gel into my eyes so the water and the soap doesn’t get into my eyes. Then by the time the shower is done, the gel’s washed out,” Leisz told TODAY’s Ann Curry Friday. And that’s not all: Each night before bed, she has to coat her eyes in gels and medication, then don a mask to keep from scratching her eyes in her sleep. The fear of infection, glaucoma brought about by her medication, corneal ulcers and blindness haunts her continuously, she said.

On Wednesday, Leisz won at least a partial victory: A jury awarded her $115,000, finding that the surgeon whose work has left her unable to even blink had deviated from accepted practices when he performed the operation. However, the same jury rejected her claim that she had not been warned of the dangers.

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As Leisz’s lawyer, Roy Konray, put it on TODAY, “The verdict — the amount — fell far short of our expectations. That said, we’re gratified that we were able to win, because malpractice cases arising out of elective cosmetic surgery are notoriously difficult to win.”

Referring to both his client and the defendant, Konray added: “I think, to some extent, the jury said: ‘A pox on both your houses.’ ”

Vision quest
Leisz’s ordeal began more than a decade ago. Born with ptosis, a congenital defect that weakens the eyelids and causes them to droop as years pass, she spent years trying to correct the condition. In 2000, she had her first eyelift, and in 2005, she underwent another.

Both were moderately successful, she said, but she soon noticed that she had developed small bumps along the creases of her eyelids. She grew concerned about her vision, she told NBC News.

A few months later, while consulting with a new plastic surgeon, Dr. Paul Parker, about having a facelift and neck lift, Leisz mentioned the problem with her eyelids. His first suggestion, she said, was to a try a scar removal product. When that didn’t work, she said, the doctor recommended a surgical procedure called a blepharoplasty, which removes excess tissue and fat from the lid.

Parker performed the surgery in August 2005. It was supposed to be a minor procedure. “I was not told that I was going to have any problems from the surgery at all,” Leisz said. “As a matter of fact, I was told I was going to have a more overall youthful appearance.”

That promise, she said, soon turned into a nightmare. She found that she was unable to close her eyes completely. Her eyes burned, she said, and her tear ducts didn’t work properly. Parker, she said, insisted that it was all part of the healing process.

30 more surgeries
But when time didn’t heal her, she turned to another plastic surgeon, who told her, and later told the jury, that in her opinion Leisz’s blepharoplasty should never have been performed. Konray credits the second surgeon’s testimony with helping sway the jury.

In the years since, Leisz has undergone 30 more painful surgeries. As a result, she can now partially close her eyes. But without additional risky surgery, there is no chance that she will ever regain the simple ability to blink or to completely close her eyes when she sleeps.

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And even if she does undergo such surgery, called an eyelid skin graft — which would require the surgeon to remove and replace three centimeters of skin near her eyelashes — there are no guarantees.

“It’s major surgery,” Leisz says. “There’s a lot of risk involved with that. The cosmetic outcome is poor and the graft failure rate is high … It’s a very risky procedure.”

For now, Leisz says, she continues to cope with the hardships of her condition and is trying to deal with the fear that some day, she will lose her sight altogether.

“I feel like my whole life has been stolen from me,” she told NBC News. “Your eyesight affects everything that you do.”

c 2011 MSNBC Interactive.? Reprints

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Woman can't close eyes after plastic surgery, sues

By MIKAELA CONLEY
ABC News

After cosmetic eyelid surgery left her incapable of fully closing her eyes, Marilyn Leisz said her life has been thrown into shambles.

After suing her New Jersey plastic surgeon, a jury on Wednesday awarded Leisz $115,000 -- an amount Leisz called "a joke."

"The award given to me can't anywhere touch what has happened with my eyes," said Leisz of her medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Paul Parker, a cosmetic surgeon in Paramus, N.J..

"I'm not happy with the decision," she said. "They didn't take into consideration what I go through every day. I expected around $500,000.

"But even with that, nothing can really make up for it," she said. "You can't put a price on your eyes."

In a statement, Parker said: "As a board certified plastic surgeon, over the past 25 years I have performed more than 10,000 surgical procedures. Our practice is centered on compassion, attention-to-detail and superior patient care."

"We have thousands of happy patients who voice their satisfaction through the personal letters they send us and countless, unprompted positive reviews and testimonials they post online."

Leisz has had two other eye procedures in the past. The first was meant to fix a congenital condition known as ptosis, where the muscles are not strong enough to hold up the lid, thus creating a droopy eyelid. The second was cosmetic.

Blepharoplasty Gone Bad

In 2005, Leisz went to Parker to fix the second cosmetic eye surgery. She had small bumps along her eyelid creases from the procedure. Leisz said Parker initially gave her Scarguard, a cream that would help smooth the skin.

"I was satisfied with the results," she said. "But he told me that I could not see what he could see, and I'd be very unhappy with the way I looked in a few years. He told me I needed surgery."

He performed a blepharoplasty, an eyelid surgery meant to give a rejuvenated appearance to the surrounding area of the eye and make a person look rested and more alert.

When asked if she thought she should have questioned Parker, Leisz said: "He's the doctor. I trusted him. You're supposed to count on your doctor that they're being honest and truthful and not worrying about their own pocketbook."

But Parker had a different view.

"We are a reputable practice with a solid track record," Parker said in his statement. "This is based on our commitment not only to patient care but to pre-surgical counseling."

Since surgery, Leisz cannot fully close her eyes. She uses steroid drops and creams to lubricate her eyes and wears a mask over her face at night to prevent scratching her corneas.

Leisz said she is at high risk of getting glaucoma and potentially going blind because of the overexposure of her eyes.

She has visited a Pennsylvania eye specialist 45 times and has had 30 surgeries in five years in attempts to reverse the cosmetic surgery results.

Leisz said she has not been able to have a full life and participate in her favorite hobbies, such as swimming, gardening and tennis, because of her condition.

"From the minute I wake up, I have to worry about my eyes," said Leisz. "They're bloodshot and dry and feel like someone is always pinching them."

"I'm pretty much a blind person," she added. "I'm very worried about the health and deterioration of my eyesight."

The jury began deliberating the case last week.

Parker's lawyer told the jury that Parker presented Leisz with a standard consent form, with the warnings and risks of the procedure. But Leisz said Parker never went over the risks, except for some swelling and bruising after the first few days of surgery.

As he said in his statement, Parker is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Board certified plastic surgeons are required to help patients understand the risks of any surgery.

"The Center considers presurgical counseling as important as the surgery itself and conducts extensive interviews with all prospective patients," Parker said. "We never overlook this vital step."

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there were 13.1 million cosmetic procedures and 208,764 eyelid surgeries done in the United States in 2010.

"With all the money plastic surgeons are making, you wouldn't think there is so much prejudice out there of cosmetic procedures," said Leisz, referring to negative comments made in online stories that have covered the trial.

"Ultimately, patients do assume some risk in choosing to have these procedures and doctors need to operate on the right people for the right reasons," said Dr. John Millard, president of Millard Plastic Surgery Center in Denver, who is not involved with the case.

"It appears that too much skin was re-sected from her upper eyelids," added Millard. "It is a risk of the blepharoplasty procedure. It is commonly covered in the consent, assuming the doctor used a standard consent."

Doctors Weigh In

Leisz's attorney played a video for the jury of another doctor who weighed in on the procedure. The physician said Leisz

was not a good candidate for another eye procedure because of her prior surgeries and the possible lack of skin around the eye.

But Millard said that she still may have been a good candidate for the procedure if she had excess, overhanging or upper eyelid skin, regardless of how many procedures she had in the past.

"Simply put, there would have been an amount of skin that, when removed, would have allowed her to close her eyes," said Millard. "If she didn't have any excess skin and this was done unnecessarily, then it would have been an inappropriate procedure in the first place."

However, Dr. Michael Olding, director of the Cosmetic Surgery and Laser Center at George Washington University, said that it is difficult to make assumptions about the surgery in hindsight.

"Just because other doctors have the advantage of looking at it retrospectively with its resultant complication does not mean that she was not a candidate for the procedure," Olding said. "But if she had undergone the same procedure previously, one must be very cautious not to overdo the skin resection."

Plastic surgeons said that complications are much more likely the second and third time around.

"Complications do occur, and it is our obligation to inform patients of the complications, and then they make an educated decision about whether or not to proceed," said Olding. "It's informed consent."

Olding noted that it is difficult to comment without knowing the exact procedure with before-and-after results, but he was willing to comment on what may have happened for Leisz's lids to become deformed.

"It looks like she has ectropion and shortening of the lower lid, which is the rolling out and pulling down of the lower lid below its normal position, causing more exposure of the globe and the cornea, which then gets dry and causes her symptoms," said Olding.

"She might have had too much skin removed, which pulled down on the lower lid, but she might also have had some bleeding at the site post op, which could have resulted in more lid contracture and shortening," Olding said.

A Fixable Dilemma, Doctors Say

Despite the botched lids, Dr. Garry S. Brody, a professor emeritus at the Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, said the mistakes still are fixable.

"What is most likely is that too much skin was taken in the last procedure," said Brody. "This can be corrected by adding skin grafts from behind the ears, which will leave an extra fine scar that can be easily covered with makeup.

"Other possible, but much less likely scenario, is that the muscles that open the lids were somehow scarred," Brody added. "Also fixable."

But Leisz now fears going under the knife. Right now, she said, she is not mentally or physically strong enough to get the reconstructive skin graft surgery.

"My eyesight may not even last to watch my grandchildren grow up, and it scares me to death," said Leisz. "I may not have a choice in the matter or my eyes will dry up like raisins."

Millard said that he would refer Leisz to an oculoplastic surgeon, a doctor that specializes in surgical procedures that deal with the eye socket, tear ducts, eyelid and face.

"My guess is that she went to someone who didn't do a lot of eyes," said Millard. "A surgeon should see if they can close their eyes post-op before throwing the skin away because he could have regrafted it."

But other plastic surgeons aren't having it.

"Tip your head back and try to close your eyes," said Dr. Henry Kawamoto, clinical professor of plastic surgery at UCLA. "[It's] not easy for even those who have not had an upper blepharoplasty. Lack of full closure is not unheard of as a temporary phenomenon, and most surely she was told pre-operatively. A nonsense suit."

Stigma of Vanity

Leisz said it's difficult to deal with a plastic surgery case because of the stigma of vanity.

"I felt embarrassed because they think I'm such a fool," she said. "You go in to look better and you come out worse than you came in."

Now, Leisz, unhappy with the verdict, said she wants to make Parker miserable.

"I want to pull out a full-page ad about this doctor, telling people what he did," she said. "I want to make him suffer. It wouldn't be for the money, it would be just to make him suffer, if that's even possible."

For more on this story, visit http://abcnews.go.com/Health/nj-woman-close-eyes-sues-plastic-surgeon/story?id=13259843&page=1 .

Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Woman Can't Close Eyes After Surgery

After cosmetic eyelid surgery left her incapable of fully closing her eyes, Marilyn Leisz said her life has been thrown into shambles.

After suing her New Jersey plastic surgeon, a jury on Wednesday awarded Leisz $115,000 -- an amount Leisz called "a joke."

"The award given to me can't anywhere touch what has happened with my eyes," said Leisz of her medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Paul Parker, a cosmetic surgeon in Paramus, N.J..

"I'm not happy with the decision," she said. "They didn't take into consideration what I go through every day. I expected around $500,000.

"But even with that, nothing can really make up for it," she said. "You can't put a price on your eyes."

In a statement, Parker said: "As a board certified plastic surgeon, over the past 25 years I have performed more than 10,000 surgical procedures. Our practice is centered on compassion, attention-to-detail and superior patient care."

"We have thousands of happy patients who voice their satisfaction through the personal letters they send us and countless, unprompted positive reviews and testimonials they post online."

Leisz has had two other eye procedures in the past. The first was meant to fix a congenital condition known as ptosis, where the muscles are not strong enough to hold up the lid, thus creating a droopy eyelid. The second was cosmetic.

In 2005, Leisz went to Parker to fix the second cosmetic eye surgery. She had small bumps along her eyelid creases from the procedure. Leisz said Parker initially gave her Scarguard, a cream that would help smooth the skin.

"I was satisfied with the results," she said. "But he told me that I could not see what he could see, and I'd be very unhappy with the way I looked in a few years. He told me I needed surgery."

He performed a blepharoplasty, an eyelid surgery meant to give a rejuvenated appearance to the surrounding area of the eye and make a person look rested and more alert.

When asked if she thought she should have questioned Parker, Leisz said: "He's the doctor. I trusted him. You're supposed to count on your doctor that they're being honest and truthful and not worrying about their own pocketbook."

But Parker had a different view.

"We are a reputable practice with a solid track record," Parker said in his statement. "This is based on our commitment not only to patient care but to pre-surgical counseling."

Since surgery, Leisz cannot fully close her eyes. She uses steroid drops and creams to lubricate her eyes and wears a mask over her face at night to prevent scratching her corneas.

Leisz said she is at high risk of getting glaucoma and potentially going blind because of the overexposure of her eyes.

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